STUDY THE BIBLE COURSE
LESSON 17B: WHAT IS SIN?
Bob Thiel, Editor-in-Chief
Published 2020 by the Continuing Church of God
Preface: This course is highly based upon the personal correspondence course developed in 1954 that began under the direction of the late C. Paul Meredith in the old Radio Church of God. Various portions have been updated for the 21st century (though much of the original writing has been retained). It also has more scriptural references, as well as information and questions not in the original course. Unless otherwise noted, scriptural references are the NKJV, copyright Thomas Nelson Publishing, used by permission. The KJV, sometimes referred to as the Authorized Version is also often used. Additionally, Catholic-approved translations such as the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) are sometimes used as are other translations.
In this lesson we need to ask and answer the following questions:
Just what IS sin anyway? Does God DEFINE it in the Bible? And did Jesus Christ DO AWAY with the Father’s spiritual law of love the Ten Commandments? Do we find the apostle Paul and the New Testament Church TEACHING OBEDIENCE to God’s law?
Were the Ten Commandments FIRST GIVEN to Moses at Mount to keep from that time forward? Are the Ten Commandments the same as, or part of, the RITUALISTIC LAW of Moses?
Did God withhold His spiritual law from the world during the time between Adam and Moses? Or did He FIRST REVEAL this way to supreme happiness to Adam and Eve in Eden?
Let’s learn the truth about God’s law from the Bible! But first, read these important instructions!
This lesson is intended to direct you to the Bible – or Bibles, if you have more than one translation – BEFORE YOU DO ANOTHER THING! Have a good dictionary, a concordance if you own one, and your notepaper all placed in front of you on a desk or table.
Remember – you must open your Bible to EVERYONE PASSAGE. Never say to yourself, “Oh, I think I know what this scripture is referring to” – and then pass over it. You need to “KEEP YOUR NOSE IN THE BIBLE,” so to speak. You must read and re-read and think out each passage. MEDITATE on this new knowledge in your leisure time, especially during the following twenty-four hours, and in your time of prayer – SO YOU WON’T FORGET it!
Make God’s Word a PART OF you! Don’t forget, this is a BIBLE STUDY Course not just a study of these words we send you.
Here is the method of taking effective notes: Write down neatly (or print) the title of this lesson. Underneath that write down the lesson number. As you come to each question section, write down its heading. Then, at the left-hand margin of your paper, number each question and write down the scriptural answer to each, together with any pertinent ideas that come to your mind.
Be SURE to WRITE OUT the scripture which answers each question. If you have not done so before, BEGIN TO DO IT NOW! Writing down every word of each Bible passage, and any comments you wish to make as you go along, will help you greatly in REVIEING and REMEMBERING.
This lesson, like all others, is extremely important to you. Have you PRAYED to God for understanding? If not, then go to a private place, kneel down, and ask God for SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING and wisdom. Ask Him to HELP you grasp and apply in your own life the knowledge this lesson will reveal to you in the Bible.
And now for the lesson itself!
LESSON 17
WHAT SIN IS
People have numerous ideas about what constitutes “sin”. Many think that sin is something to be DESIRED. To illustrate, decades ago in Hollywood – the movie capital of America – there was sold in newsstands a book titled “How to Sin in Hollywood.” Visitors from all over the world who came to Hollywood would buy that book.
Actually, the book was quite harmless, merely giving names of restaurants and similar places. Most of them were eating places WITHOUT any entertainment.
But the point is that sin always SEEMS to be the “forbidden fruit” that is most glamorous and that would be most desirable if some unfair God had NOT denied it to us. That seems to be what human beings think of sin.
But that ISN’T WHAT GOD THINKS about sin!
1. What is God’s definition of SIN? Is it the TRANSGRESSION of the LAW? 1 John 3:4, KJV.
2. IS GOD’S law being spoken of in the previous scripture? – didn’t Paul state that the LAW says, “You shall not covet.”? Romans 7:7
COMMENT: The LAW that said, “You shall not covet”, TAUGHT the apostle Paul what constitutes sin. And one cardinal point of that law is the TENTH COMMANDMENT! (Exodus 20:17.)
So the law against coveting is ONE of God’s TEN COMMANDMENTS! God reveals that the VIOLATION of His commandments and their principals constitutes SIN!
3. Does sin – the VIOLATION of the Ten Commandments and their principals – work AGAINST our own best interests? Romans 6:23.
COMMENT: “The WAGES of sin” – the “reward” YOU EARN by sinning against God’s law – the thing you BRING upon yourself – is DEATH! A shorter and unhappier life here, and ETERNAL OBLIVION in the hereafter – unless you REPENT of all your sins, have them WIPES AWAY by Christ’s blood and begin OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS!
Way to Happiness Must Be REVEALED!
You want to be HAPPY, don’t you? Nearly everyone does!
You would like to lead a life that is just full and abundant and INTERESTING – as a matter of fact, a little bit exciting all the way along, wouldn’t you? And you want a life where everything is pleasant, where there is no pain or suffering.
You don’t want a life of boredom. You don’t want a life of sorrow. You want a HAPPY life, and you would love to feel well, jolly and joyful – happy all the time.
YOU COULD have a life like that. Everyone could. This ENTIRE WORLD could be like that – if we only UNDERTSOOD THE WAY! That way has to be REVEALED!
GOD reveals that way in His Guidebook for mankind – the Holy Bible! God Almighty in His great LOVE for humanity, reveals that He set a LAW in motion. That law was designed to PRODUCE just that kind of happy life in you!
God is Creator not only of matter – solid matter, liquid matter and gaseous matter, as we know it – but God is also Creator of FORCE, ENERGY and of EVERY POWER and LAW. The laws of physics, the laws of chemistry – every law that is in motion and is energized. Do you realize that God Almighty also created a SPIRITUAL LAW? That spiritual law is what REGULATES YOUR HAPPINESS!
But most people are NOT living that way. They’re breaking that law, and have been breaking them for a long time, because that’s precisely what happens when you BREAK GOD’S SPIRITUAL LAW!
That law is simply LOVE. It’s the WAY of love. It’s the way that love should be EXPRESSED – love toward God and love toward neighbor.
1. Did Paul say he would not have known what sin is except the law had pointed it out to him? Romans 7:7.
COMMENT: We don’t know what is right and what is wrong unless God REVEALS it. Even the apostle Paul would not have known what sin is if God’s law had not told him.
Human nature will not teach you because human nature tends toward lust and evil (Jeremiah 17:9). As Paul says, “I would not have known covetousness” That is, he would not have known that coveting was wrong or evil; HE DIDN’T HAVE SUCH INSTINCTIVE KNOWLEDGE – “unless the LAW HAD SAID, “You shall not covet.”
Do you realize that when you were born you DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING! YOU WEREN’T even born with instinct as animals are.
Animals don’t have to be taught a law to know what to do or not to do; they don’t have to learn about a law that will show them HOW to be happy, and how to AVOID suffering. Animals are just dumb brutes which God has equipped with INSTINCT. They respond AUTOMATICALLY to this instinct God built into their simple brains when He originally created them.
But you and I are vastly different. We are made AFTER GOD’S IMAGE. Our minds possess, to a very limited degree, divine characteristics. We were put here as free moral agents for the purpose of PRODUCING CHARACTER – holy, righteous, spiritual character. If we submit to God and follow His law of love, He will be creating His spiritual character within us.
2. Did the apostle Paul say that the law – the Ten Commandments and their principles – is SPIRITUAL? Romans 7:14.
COMMENT: But Paul said he was CARNAL. He was fleshly and material. So are we all.
The law is SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE, and it REGULATES YOUR HAPPINESS – a SPIRITUAL matter. God’s law directs and guides you as to what YOU SHOULD do so you can be happy.
3. Did Paul say God’s law is sin? Romans 7:7. Or did he say the law is HOLY, and the commandment is HOLY, just and good? Romans 7:12.
COMMENT: That isn’t what we are taught today, is it? Many people (particularly of certain Protestant persuasions) have been reared in the belief that the law is UNHOLY, harsh and cruel and ALTOGETHER WRONG! That it’s bad for us, and therefore Christ had to DO AWAY with it!
WHAT A PARADOX! People think God’s law – the very thing that points the WAY to true happiness – is WRONG! God reveals it is the very thing which shows us HOW to AVOID unhappiness!
May God help you to SEE and ACT on this marvelous truth!
Commandments in Force Before Mt. Sinai
Some have claimed that the Ten Commandments were not in effect before God wrote them on the tablets of stone on Mt. Sinai. But that is not accurate.
The law was in effect since no later than Adam. The reason that we say ‘no later’ is that Lucifer and his followers also have known about it.
God REVEALED the commandments to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Why? So that they and their progeny could know what sin IS and AVOID it!
EVERY ONE of the Ten Commandments was then in full force and effect. And it was a SIN to break any one of them between the time of Adam and Moses, just as it is TODAY! Let’s understand the truth.
1. Didn’t Paul plainly state that sin is NOT IMPUTED where there is NO law? Romans 5:13.
COMMENT: God reveals that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But where there IS NO law, there obviously could be NO lawbreaking and therefore NO penalty could be imposed!
2. But do we find death DID reign – that the death penalty was IMPUTED because of sin – beginning with the very time of Adam? Romans 5:12, 14. Then didn’t there obviously have to be a LAW in existence at least by the time of Adam?
COMMENT: Adam SINNED! But he could not have sinned had there been no law. How plain that God’s law existed then and that it STILL is in existence to this day; for God says: “all have sinned”! (Verse 12, KJV.)
The law of God existed FROM THE BEGINNING. God instructed Adam and Eve in His law and revealed that living BY His laws would net them true happiness and material abundance. It is likely that He revealed all this to them on the very NEXT DAY after their creation – on the SABBATH – the SEVENTH day of the week!
3. Doesn’t all this plainly show that God’s law was first given far EARLIER than many have assumed – much earlier than the time of Moses? Romans 5:14. Note the words “Adam TO Moses.” Didn’t Adam PRECEDE Moses? Same verse.
COMMENT: Obviously those who believe that God’s spiritual law was not given UNTIL the time of Moses are absolutely WRONG!
EVERY ONE of the Ten Commandments was in existence during the time of Adam. It was SIN to break any one of them BEFORE they were RESTATED to Moses and the people at Mount Sinai!
(To see quotes of each of the Ten Commandments before Mt. Sinai, you can check out the article at https://www.cogwrite.com/ten.htm. For more on the Ten Commandments, you can also see our free book, online via www.ccog.org, titled: The Ten Commandments: The decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast.)
Humans Must Choose
God ordained from the beginning that He would NOT FORCE His way to supreme happiness – His spiritual law – upon mankind. He determined man would have to CHOOSE whether or not he would obey.
1. After creating Adam, did God place him in the Garden of Eden? Genesis 2:8. Then what did God give him PERMISSION to do? Verse 16
2. Now notice God’s WARNING immediately afterward. Genesis 2:17. It is indulging in a MIXTURE of good and evil actions that God warns us against? Same verse.
COMMENT: Here we see that God is Supreme Ruler. God is giving the orders and is teaching. The man DIDN’T KNOW he shouldn’t partake of the tree of good and evil. He had to be told. HE had to be TAUGHT and INSTRUCTED.
3. What is the PENALTY – what can be expected when one “eats,” or partakes of a MIXTURE of good and evil? Genesis 2:17.
COMMENT: God warned man that disobedience – SIN – to His command would end in DEATH, for “the wages of sin is death”! (Romans 6:23).
But noticed that the very fact God said “in the day that you eat of it …” shows that man was ALLOWED to do it, that the man was a FREE MORAL AGENT – that the man himself had to MAKE THE CHOICE!
God designed that you and I must CHOOSE whether we will obey His law or not.
Animals don’t make choices like humans. Animals have instinct. And animals are usually contented. We have our “contented cows.” But we don’t have many contented people. Do you know WHY?
God simply ordained cows from their creation that they would AUTOMATICALLY live basically contented lives. But God ORDAINED that you and I MUST MAKE A CHOICE. And if we CHOOSE the RIGHT WAY to live according to that law which God set in motion to produce happiness and contentment and a full, thrilling, enjoyable life – WE CAN HAVE IT! (Deuteronomy 30:15-19.)
But if we CHOOSE to live the OTHER WAY, we’re going to have suffering, SORROWS and CURSES – that’s what the world has elected to do!
Job Choose to Obey the Ten Commandments
Many scholars teach that Job was likely to have been alive around the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), thus the subjects in the Book of Job were all known prior to Mount Sinai. Biblical evidence includes the facts that both Job and Abraham’s wealth are listed in livestock (Job 1:3;42:12; Genesis 12:16;13:2;30:43;32:5), the Chaldeans are portrayed a raiders (Job 1:17; as a people, they were not raiders later), the particular Hebrew word for ‘piece of silver’ in Job 42:11 is only used otherwise in conjunction with Jacob (Genesis 33:19; Joshua 24:32), and Job’s age (Job 42:16) appears to be consistent with the patriarchs.
Job knew about God before the Book of Genesis was written, as he said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).
Here are some Jewish views on when Job may have lived:
According to Bar Kappara, Job lived in the time of Abraham; according to Abba b. Kahana, in the time of Jacob, he having married Dinah, Jacob’s daughter (ib.; B. B. 15b; comp. additions in Targ. Yer. To Job ii. 9). R. Levi said that Job lived in the time of Jacob’s sons; and he also said, in the name of Jose b. Halafta, that Job was born when Jacob and his children entered Egypt and that he died when the Israelites left that country. Job consequently lived 210 years (comp. Rashi on ex. Xii. 40). When Satan came to accuse the Israelites of being idolaters, God set him against Job, whence Job’s misfortunes (Gen. R. I.c.). … Levi b. Lahma also held that Job lived in the time of Moses, by whom the Book of Job was written. Some of the rabbis even declare that the one servant of Pharaoh who feared the word of God (Ex. ix. 20) was Job (Ex. R. xii. 3). Raba, specifying the time more accurately, said Job lived in the time of the spies who were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (B. B. 15a). According to these rabbis, Job was a Gentile, an opinion which is elsewhere expressed more fully, in that Job is said to have been a pious Gentile or one of the prophets of the Gentiles (ib. 15b; Seder ‘Olam R. xxi.). (Job. Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906)
A few have indicated that Job could have been the first written book of the Bible, though many point to a later time of writing. Even if it were not written down prior to Mount Sinai, the narrative appears to be before the children of Israel entered the land of Egypt during the time of Joseph.
Job knew and kept the Ten Commandments. 1st Job 31:28, 42:1-2; 2nd Job 31:27-28; 3rd Job 2:9-10; 4th Job 2:13, 7:1, 20:5,20; 5th Job 14:21, 22:8, 6th 24:14; 7th Job 24:15; 8th Job 24:14, 31:27-28; 9th Job 6:28, 10th Job 31:27-28, 36:4; 10th Job 5:2, 31:1, 9-12.
Notice that Job chose to obey:
1. I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? (Job 31:1).
It is from the 7th and 10th commandments one who come to that conclusion. Job knew and kept the Ten Commandments.
The First Sins
1. God, the Creator, lovingly warned man that if he committed sin, he would SURELY DIE (Genesis 2:17). But what did the Devil say? Genesis 3:1-4. Note especially verse 4.
COMMENT: “YOU will NOT surely die” is the FIRST LIE of which we have any historical record. It was not told by a human, but by the DEVIL.
“YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE. You’re an IMMORTAL SOUL.” Or “You have an immortal soul that won’t die.” That’s what the devil was REALLY saying.
2. What else did the devil say? Genesis 3:5.
Note especially the words, “For God KNOWS.”
COMMENT: In other words, the devil said “God knows better; God’s been LYING to you!” That’s what he wanted the woman to believe.
3. And then what did Eve do? Genesis 3:6. Did her husband also partake of the fruit? Same verse. Here was the FIRST human sin!
COMMENT: Analyze exactly what happened. God is the One we are to OBEY. Do you realize that’s one of the definitions of God? Whoever or whatever you obey is your god. It might be your slavishness to your automobile. Maybe it’s an actual idol. Whatever it is, THAT’S your god.
Adam and Eve had another god IN PLACE of the true God – they broke the first commandment, “You shall have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME” (Exodus 20:3). They also broke the FIFTH (Exodus 20:12) by dishonoring their only Parent. How? The genealogy of Christ goes back to Adam who was the “SON of God,” because God CREATED him (Luke 3:38). Adam was the son of God by a DIRECT CREATION, not by begettal or birth.
Adam not only dishonored his Parent, but he also broke the TENTH commandment (Exodus 20:17). There was LUST when the woman saw that the fruit was good for food and to make one wise – vanity, egotism and pride entered into her heart.
Lust is what causes a person’s inordinate desire to have something that is not legal. Lust causes one to STEAL and Adam and Eve broke the EIGHTH commandment (Exodus 20:15) by STEALING what was not theirs.
FOUR OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE DIRECTLY BROKEN IN THE ORIGINAL SIN. And in other ways, ALL of the Ten Commandments were actually broken in the very first sin!
4. What were the names of Adam and Eve’s first two named children? Genesis 4:1-2. What did Cain do? Verse 3. And what did Abel do? Verse 4. Was Cain’s offering – Cain’s act −ACCEPTABLE to God? Verse 5 and 1 John 3:12.
5. If one does well – does the things God wishes – aren’t his deeds acceptable to God? Genesis 4:7, first nine words. But if one does that which is NOT ACCEPTABLE to God, what “lies” at his door – SIN? Same verse.
6. Did Cain MURDER Abel out of jealousy? Verse 8. Did God therefore punish Cain? Verses 9-12.
COMMENT: Murder was a sin FROM THE VERY BEGINNING! And when God asked Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” Cain replied, “I do not know” (Verse 9). But Cain DID KNOW. He knew his brother was dead. Therefore, he LIED and broke another commandment. That, too, was SIN!
Cain broke the SIXTH (Exodus 20:13) and NINTH (Exodus 20:16) commandments. EVERY ONE OF these commandments was known from creation because God had REVEALED THEM TO ADAM. He thus revealed them to mankind at that time. But humanity as a whole has REJECTED them ever since!
7. Was literal idolatry committed BEFORE the time of Abraham? Joshua 24:2.
COMMENT: Here were people before Abraham’s time – LONG BEFORE MOSES’ TIME – worshiping idols, committing a SIN – a transgression of God’s LAW. No wonder we are told in the Bible that “death” – the PENALTY OF SIN – “REIGNED FROM ADAM TO MOSES” (Romans 5:14), for the law was in existence ALL DURING THAT TIME!
8. Was the sin of IDOLATRY also committed in the generations AFTER Abraham? Genesis 35:2.
COMMENT: Jacob was Abraham’s GRANDSON.
9. Did Jacob command those of his household who worshipped idols, to PUT AWAY their foreign gods? Same verse. What was DONE with these idols? Verse 4.
COMMENT: Even back then, long BEFORE Moses, it was a SIN to WORSHIP these idols they possessed!
The Third and Fourth Commandments Broken
1. What is the THIRD commandment? Exodus 20:7.
COMMENT: To take God’s name IN VAIN IS PROFANITY. It is PROFANING the name of God.
2. Did God tell Moses and the rest of the Israelites that the heathen who possessed the promised land in generations PREVIOUS to Moses’ time had been doing MANY ABOMINATIONS? Leviticus 18:1, 27. What was one of these abominations? Verse 21, last half. Did God say these heathen nations had DEFILED themselves and the land because of such abominations? Verses 24 and 27. Then taking the name of God in vain was a sin at that time, wasn’t it?
COMMENT: The third commandment of the law was being violated here. Therefore, profanity – taking the name of God in vain – was a SIN BEFORE MOSES’ TIME!
For additional proof, consider the following from Job (which most scholars believe were stated well before the Ten Commandments were inscribed in tablets on Mt. Sinai) and then one from his wife:
5 … It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts (Job 1:5).
9 … Curse God and die! (Job 2:9).
Job fully realized that taking God’s name in vain was a sin. Job’s wife realized that cursing God brough the death penalty.
3. What is the FOURTH commandment? Exodus 20:8-11. Is it the day on which everyone should REST from all his labors? Verse 10. Did God REST on that day after He had finished creating the earth and all life upon it? Genesis 2”2-3.
4. Did God tell Moses to have all the people KEEP – rest on – the Sabbath? Exodus 16:23, 30. Did God command Israel to keep the Sabbath to PROVE whether they would walk in – OBEY – His LAW or not? Exodus 16:4. Note the word “law”.
COMMENT: Here is God’s law ALREADY IN EFFECT at that very time! God wanted to see whether the people would obey its fourth cardinal point – WEEKS BEFORE THEY CAME TO Mount Sinai where the Ten Commandments were RESTATED (Exodus 20) and, months later beginning in Leviticus 1 the PHYSICAL RITUALISTIC “law of Moses” was FIRST GIVEN!
Consider further that Jesus stated, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). Humans were created well before the inscribing of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
5. Did some of the children of Israel disregard God’s command to pick up a double portion of manna on the sixth day – did they decide in advance to go out and WORK at gathering manna on this seventh day – the SABBATH day – on which God had commanded them to REST? Exodus 16:27.
6. What did God say about this act of disobedience? Exodus 16:28. Notice this in particular – did God just confine his rebuke to those refusing to keep this one command, or did HE call attention to ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS and LAWS they had been breaking? Same verse.
COMMENT: This conversation was going on weeks BEFORE God RESTATED His spiritual laws to Moses and the people at Sinai. And it was MONTHS BEFORE God gave the SEPARATE RITUALISTIC LAW of sacrifices and ablutions which was to be in force ONLY UNTIL Christ’s death!
So the Sabbath was ALREADY the law of God at that time, as well as the other commands and laws God referred to in verse 28!
The Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Commandments
1. What is the FIFTH commandment? Exodus 20:12. Do we find a retribution – a curse falling on one who broke this law LONG BEFORE the time of Sinai? Let’s examine.
2. Did Noah become drunk? Genesis 9:20-23. Did he realize a sin had been committed against him? Verse 24. What CURSE fell upon Canaan as a result of this sin against Noah, his GRANDPARENTS? Verse 25
3. What is the SEVENTH commandment? Exodus 20:14. Was it also in effect and known LONG BEFORE God reiterated His spiritual law to Moses and the people at Mount Sinai? Let’s consider.
4. When Joseph was in Egypt serving the Egyptians (Genesis 39:1-2), what IMPROPER advances did Potiphar’s wife make toward him? Genesis 39:7. Did Joseph refuse? Verse 8. Why? Did Joseph say it would have been a SIN to follow her wishes? Verse 9.
COMMENT: Remember, where there is now law, sin is NOT IMPUTED. But here we see that Joseph KNEW God’s law and he knew that sin WOULD be imputed if he broke that law! ADULTERY was a sin hundreds of years BEFORE Moses!
5. What is the EIGHTH commandment? Exodus 20:15. Did Jacob, who lived LONG BEFORE the Ten Commandments were repeated at Sinai, use the word “stolen”? Genesis 30:33.
COMMENT: Jacob knew and understood the meaning of the word “steal.” Stealing was a SIN in those days the SAME AS IT IS TODAY!
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments
1. Does God forbid the bearing of false witness – LYING – in His NINTH Commandment? Exodus 20:16. Was Eve deceived from false witness by the serpent? Genesis 3:4-5, 13. Did God announce a punishment on the serpent for doing that? Genesis 3:14-15.
COMMENT: The serpent WAS LYING and God cursed the serpent! Jesus alter stated that the devil as the father of lies (John 8:44). The serpent BROKE the ninth commandment!
The Bible also records that Job complained that his “friends” bore false witness against him (Job 13:4) and that he was not doing that (Job 27:4, 36:4). Consider that the Bible declares that Job was “upright” (Job 1:1) and since of all God’s “commandments are righteousness” (Psalm 119:172), Job would only be “upright” if he actively strove to keep them.
How plain it is that God’s law was in existence from Adam.
2. What about COVETING – is it the last of the Ten Commandments? Exodus 20:17. Were the people BEFORE the flood breaking this commandment through their thoughts? Genesis 6:5. Note the word “wickedness.” Does God say, through the inspired Psalms, that the WICKED are those who FORSAKE HIS LAW? Psa. 119:53. Was covetousness specifically pointed out as an undesirable trait before Mt. Sinai? Exodus 18:21. Did the married Job realize desiring another woman would be wickedness? Job 31:9-11.
3. Now here comes the CLINCHER! Did Abraham, who lived BETWEEN the time of Adam and Moses, have a THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE of God’s COMMANDMENTS? Genesis 26:5 And God’ STATUTES? Same verse. And God’s LAWS? Same verse. How did Abraham LEARN all these things? Note the word “voice”.
COMMENT: The people before the time of Moses were MUCH BETTER INFORMED about the law of God than is generally admitted today!
Obedience Necessary Today!
The Ten Commandments constitute a SPIRITUAL LAW that is eternal and inexorable. It is a law showing the way of LOVE and the FULFILLING of which is love. It is a law that God set in motion for man’s HAPPINESS to produce EVERYTHING GOOD which man foolishly denies himself.
Obedience to God’s law was JUST AS NECESSARY for the well-being and happiness of the world BEFORE the time of Moses and AFTERWARD, AS IT IS TODAY! That is why we have just seen that every one of the Ten Commandments EXISTED FROM CREATION. It has been a SIN to break any one of them from the beginning!
God created man a creature of CHOICE. And so God decreed that man MUST CHOOSE WHETHER or not he will obey God’s law. The world as a whole has CHOSEN NOT to obey and you see the RESULTS of sin all around you!
Yes, the CHOICE IS YOURS. But the actual fulfilling of God’s royal law of love does not lie within YOUR OWN power. It is only possible through the POWER of God’s Spirit!
But there are PRIOR CONDITIONS to receiving God’s Holy Spirit. First you must REPENT of your past sins – come to recognize and UTERRLY ABHOR your past disobedience to God’s laws and QUIT SINNING! Then you must acknowledge Jesus Christ as your personal Savior Who shed His blood to blot out your sins and reconcile you to the Father. Finally, God commands WATER BAPTISM as a symbol of your sincere repentance.
Once you have fulfilled these requirements, God promises to give you His Holy Spirit as a FREE GIFT! (Acts 2:38.) Only then will you be able to keep His SPIRITUAL law in its true spiritual intent.
Do you begin to realize how DESPERATELY YOU need to have God’s spiritual law of love – the Ten Commandments – being FULFILLED in you? It is the ONLY WAY to achieve the true happiness and material and SPIRITUAL blessings you really desire! What are you going to DO about it?
(Be sure to write for the astounding free booklet Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast. DO you know much about the Ten Commandments? How long have they been in place? What did early Christians think about them? How did early Christians number them? Were they in effect before Mt. Sinai? Were they ‘nailed to the cross’ as some claim? What is the “mystery of lawlessness” that the Apostle Paul warned about in 2 Thessalonians 2:7? What do most professing Christian groups misunderstand about the Ten Commandments? What is the relationship between Christians, the Ten Commandments, and the Beast of revelation in the end times? In addition to addressing those questions, this booklet explains various practical points about the Ten Commandment and how to not violate them. Each of the Ten Commandments is discussed separately and many scriptures are referenced related to each one. The Ten Commandments are important to understand in the end times.)